When Damian McBride was given his security vetting to work with Gordon Brown he was put through his paces by what he was told was a "kindly spinster aunt", reports the Times. Those who know about the vetting say it involves working out if someone with access to government secrets could, under pressure, be vulnerable to blackmail. So the security people look at a candidate's financial health and personal relationships, past and present. But McBride was surprised when the woman who wore half-rim glasses ran through "a list of every deviant sexual practice you can think of" asking if he had engaged in them. McBride says his answers went: "No … no … erm, no … yes, but only once, no, I don't even know what that is."